GAZETTE & HERALD: THOUSANDS of revellers had a right royal time at the twentieth Box Revels celebration on Bank Holiday Monday.

The annual event, which attracted 3,000 visitors, had a theme of 'royalty' this year.

Box Recreation Ground was a hive of activity with a sell-out number of stalls and an arena of alternative entertainment.

The stalls were run by local charities and businesses, which put together games for children and sold arts and crafts.

The main sponsor of the event was Allen and Harris, who ran a successful children's competition with painting for younger kids and a design-a-house competition for the older children.

Revels organiser Stuart Cotton said it was so popular they ran out of templates and had to run off to get more photocopied.

"The whole event was very successful. The pitches were sold out for the first year in a long time.

"The rain held off until about 4pm so it was only then that numbers started to dwindle. We had our usual number of around 3,000 people.

"Everybody dressed up and all the stalls had a theme. There was an Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. It was a loose theme of royalty," he said.

To mark the occasion a 20-foot royal crown, which Mr Cotton compared to the Hollywood sign, was placed on the Box hillside.

"We had fireworks and these were sparkling over the crown with red, white and blue smoke," he said.

An arena was also set up on the recreation ground, which held events all day including sheep shearing, Box pantomime group, a dog show, a falconer and the GB Ultimate Frisbee Team.

"They went down well and they were showing the kids how to do fun tricks. They are in the world championships in Helsinki and are currently looking for sponsorship," said Mr Cotton.

Another highlight of the day was a 25ft castle made out of cardboard boxes donated by sponsors Pickford Removals.

The castle was made by fathers in the village and used by the Box pantomime group in their performance.

Another popular performance was the alternative queen's speech, which was given by an actor who arrived in a Rolls Royce and sat on a throne.

The event raised thousands of pounds for local causes and profit from the sale of programmes and stall pitches will go into a Box community fund to be spent in the village.

"The revels is a forum for local charities and it is the biggest fund-raiser for Box Play Group which did a barbecue and made £1,000," said Mr Cotton.

The Revels Committee raised around £2,500 and the local community will decide where the money is spent.

Mr Cotton said a suggestion being considered was contributing to an extension for the local primary school.

Preceding the bank holiday festivities a fund-raising Royal Banquet was held in Selwyn Hall on Saturday.

A three-course feast was accompanied by a raffle and a DJ with music through the ages.

There was also a fancy dress competition and a Casino Royale. The revels originated years ago as a bank holiday festival for men who worked in the local quarries.

Although the quarries closed long ago the tradition was revived 20 years ago and has recently expanded from a day to a week of fun and games.

Each year a theme is chosen which can be loosely interpreted.

A Wild West theme ran through the event last year and the committee hopes to commemorate engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel's birthday by theming the revels on him in 2006, 200 years after he was born. Brunel created the impressive Box Tunnel in 1841, which runs on the Great Western Railway line from London to Bristol.